Make It

Last night we premiered our movie Vampire Vampire Vampire Vampire.

It was a crazy fun and drunkard night for myself. And now I have this sense of closure on that particular project. It's a great feeling to know I have done everything I can to make that work well. To see it in a finalized state is wonderful and while there are a few things I may have wanted to do differently on the day, that's the last of it. The film is done and I get to be done with it. My performance effected people in exactly the way I intended it to and that's really all I can hope for at this point in my career.

My mother always says "Something's gotta happen..." as if I am in some massive ocean and I've forgotten how to paddle. But I am paddling. It just takes time. It takes willingness to wait for those great moments that come along every few months and those beautiful perfect moments we only get once every five years. I've been working quite frequently and I'm proud of that... proud of the performances I'm giving and the people I'm getting to know.

It's amazing to think so many people come into this business with that Make It mentality. Like either you make it or you don't. Either you win or you lose. But I can't subscribe to that. I think as long as I'm trying new things and putting myself out there with creative energy, creative ideas, creative living...

I'm ahead in life.

That's a powerful statement. Yeah, I'm in debt from school. I'm not a star. I live paycheck to paycheck.

But I am ahead in life.

Just because I am out here trying and doing and living and creating. In that sense I am making it all the time.

Hell, over the last couple month I've been working every single week. between that bodybuilding game ad, a student film, a fake trailer, and a new webisode I've been strapped for time (in a good way)... and that's not including my writing endeavors. Of which I am seeing quite positive motion. In fact, this weekend (Fri/Sat) sees the premier of my first produced play. It's a one-act titled Leading The Blind and I couldn't be more excited. Everybody's invited if they can make it out. It's at The Hayworth Building (643 S Carondelet St, Los Angeles, CA 90057) through a great organization I've been a part of for the last month or two, Imagenese Free.

I guess what I'm saying is things are constantly happening. And thank god for that. I am far happier today living in the present and making art and being a person than I would be if I were sitting at a desk in a colorless room separated by crummy walls made of cardboard trying to ignore the sound of my neighbor typing away and making a business call. That's not my life. It will never be my life. Not in that context at least. I'm just not cut out for that kind of thing. And while I'd love to be making a reasonable income... not the part time whatever pay I currently receive... things are okay. There are far too many things in the positive for me to ever allow petty downers in.

So every day... Make It:

1. Sunshine - G. Love
2. Replica - Beck
3. Goin' To Acapulco - Calexico & Jim James
4. Savior - Red Hot Chili Peppers
5. Run (I'm A Natural Disaster) - Gnarls Barkley
6. In The Heat Of The Morning - The Last Shadow Puppets
7. On The Radio - Regina Spektor
8. Ghost Of Love - Moonbabies
9. Bring Me The Disco King - David Bowie
10. You Only Call Me When You're Drunk - Ed Harcourt
11. Fly Trapped In A Jar - Modest Mouse
12. Amazing Life - Jem
13. Death From Above - Smashing Pumpkins
14. Ghost Of Love - David Lynch
15. No Surprises - Radiohead
16. Mighty Storm - The Duhks
17. Sound And Vision - David Bowie
18. Just A Kid - Wilco
19. Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
20. They Go Down - Fox Bat Strategy
21. Finding Out True Love Is Blind - Louis XIV
22. Gold Lion - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
23. All Delighted People - Sufjan Stevens
24. I'm Not Worried At All - Moby

Wet Floor: Can You Say Climax?

Limitless

When I came into this flick I was hesitant. Not because I thought it looked bad... I really couldn't tell what I thought. The idea was so simple, and sometimes simplicity makes for the greatest of plots. And sometimes it just makes for awkward watching. I enjoyed Limitless while I watched it. I questioned certain choices. Particularly a scene involving ice skates. But the grandest miss by the writers here was the utter lack of climax. It's so strange to come to the end of your film and realize you've missed the most important part of the story. It is a tremendous cop out to just say "one year later"

when half of the plot has yet to be resolved. And no one is supposed to care that those murder charges just magically disappeared? Oy vey. Yeah, I said it. The bookend is fun, I'll admit that, but the lead up of him against the guys in the apartment just isn't the moment the writers seemed to hope it would be. It doesn't deliver on any of the promises we were told.

Rating: Tragically Incomplete

Hanna

She and her dad were great. Weird that Kate didn't deliver.

And then there was Hanna. The first hour promised so many wonderful exciting things. And then the writers realized they couldn't make a franchise and went ahead with tying everything up in a nice neat bloody bow. The blood does not refer to the characters that have been killed in the process, nay... When I say bloody I am implying that the writers cut off their hands to spite the studio. "Hey, you don't want to make a sequel? Well then here. Enjoy the mess you forced us to make." What vicious spite.

Rating: A Halfway Perfect Film With Rushed TV Finale

Insidious

Hahahahahahahahaha!

Darth Maul and Patrick Wilson? I dunno. I guess that when two bad directors get together to make the ultimate shitty movie we can't really expect anything from them. I don't know why I saw it. I don't know why I stuck around to finish it. The thing is this movie, if studied strictly, can show you everything you want to know about troubleshooting a bad film.

Rating: Mediocrity Lesson

Rio

Perhaps one of the worst scripts I have ever seen put to film. However, the animation is glorious. Too bad it was wasted on this material.

Rating: Fodder For Toddlers Who Can't Tell What's Going On In A Movie Yet

Water For Elephants

That's how awkward their romance is in the movie...

Just not as good as it could have been. You know, if they had pushed for an R rating this could be a very decent film. But when that last tent sequence occurs and not a single person seems to actually get hurt by the hungry animals... well there's clearly something missing. On another note, Robert Pattinson can't act, so maybe someone could stop giving him roles that require he simply emote. Maybe he could play a statue?

Rating: Should Have Been R

African Cats

Um, this was pretty awesome. Samuel L. Jackson narrates with a chuckle in his voice. I like that. As repetitive as it seemed at times the ultimate effect was quite powerful. Be careful with young ones here as it does get a little intense from time to time.

Rating: Nature Makes Good Stories.

As usual more bad than good... but summer's here and good things are on the horizon. I can't wait to see Thor and I intend to discuss Scream 4 in some depth in an upcoming article. Keep your eyes peeled for something worth spending the $12.50* on.


*Price may differ by theatre.

Yeah, I'm That Awesome...

Didn't You Sleep?

Man it's been a weird little while.

So last night the news broke... Bin Laden Dead. And I'm sitting there thinking about it and wondering what it really means. Obviously it's good for Obama's approval ratings and I don't want to know what Fox News will make of it. But... it's big and weird and now things just go back to normal. We'll get a few films about the people who managed to take him down, the plan that made it happen, etc. etc. And in the coming weeks/months/years we'll get more and more information about what exactly that plan entailed and how it was executed.

It's been ten years. It took ten years to find this guy. So here's my beef... and it's small and petty and doesn't matter...

I came up with an idea for a movie last year. I took too long to sit down and write it, though traditionally it would have taken more time than I had to finish. Not to mention I had to complete that other project I mentioned last month. And now the idea is pretty much void. It could still work as a film... a Political Fiction wherein the key idea of Bin Laden becomes someone else. But I wanted to write Political Speculation. That was the fun of it. Without the option of Bin Laden I feel it loses its edge. The basic premise would still be cool outside of this, but I've lost my lust for it.

One day I may come back to the concept as it really does manage to hit on some interesting ideas, but without that edge I don't have to write it anymore. And that's really the key for me. "Do I have to write this here and now?" That is my drive... the need to get it out.

Let me change gears. The wishy-washy attitude of news anchors today is abhorrent. Sure, ratings are a factor... but we should have been told by the president. It's a measly argument, I know... but our nations news sets an example for the rest of the world. And that example is currently foul.

Short and sweet. Do you think it'll get to them?

Oh well... Didn't You Sleep?:

1. All My Mistakes - Teitur
2. Mists Of Down Below - The Duhks
3. Glass, Concrete & Stone - David Byrne
4. The Strange Design Of Conscience - The Flaming Lips
5. Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key - Billy Bragg & Wilco
6. Waltz Of The Naked Clowns - Eels
7. 2HB - Roxy Music
8. Don't Forget Me - Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. Highwayman - Johnny Cash
10. Prairie Fire That Wanders About - Sufjan Stevens
11. Summer In Savannah - Iron & Wine
12. The Impulse - The Flaming Lips
13. Nite Flights - David Bowie
14. Brazilian Sun - CocoRosie
15. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) - Calexico & Willie Nelson
16. The Distance From Everyone To You - Louis XIV
17. The Last Time - Gnarls Barkley
18. Cello Song - The Books
19. Funnel Of Love - Wanda Jackson
20. Sleep Tonight - Stars